TY - CHAP

T1 - From parts to a whole?

T2 - Exploring changes in funerary practices at Çatalhöyük

AU - Haddow, Scott Donald

AU - M. J. Schotsmans, Eline

AU - Milella, Marco

AU - Pilloud, Marin A.

AU - Tibbetts, Belinda

AU - Knüsel, Christopher J.

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Death is a universal and profoundly emotive human experience with social and economic implications that extend to communities as a whole. As such, the act of disposing of the dead is typically laden with deep meaning and significance. Archaeological investigations of funerary practices are thus important sources of information on the social contexts and worldviews of ancient societies. Changes in funerary practices are often thought to reflect organisational or cosmological transformations within a society (Carr 1995; Robb 2013). The focus of this volume is the role of cognition and consciousness in the accelerated sociocultural developments of the Neolithic Period in the Near East. In the introduction to this volume, Hodder identifies three commonly cited cognitive changes that can be measured against various archaeological datasets from Çatalhöyük. The funerary remains at Çatalhöyük are an obvious source of data for validating Hodder’s third measure of change: a shift from a fluid and fragmented conception of the body and of selfhood to a greater awareness of an integrated, bounded personal self.

AB - Death is a universal and profoundly emotive human experience with social and economic implications that extend to communities as a whole. As such, the act of disposing of the dead is typically laden with deep meaning and significance. Archaeological investigations of funerary practices are thus important sources of information on the social contexts and worldviews of ancient societies. Changes in funerary practices are often thought to reflect organisational or cosmological transformations within a society (Carr 1995; Robb 2013). The focus of this volume is the role of cognition and consciousness in the accelerated sociocultural developments of the Neolithic Period in the Near East. In the introduction to this volume, Hodder identifies three commonly cited cognitive changes that can be measured against various archaeological datasets from Çatalhöyük. The funerary remains at Çatalhöyük are an obvious source of data for validating Hodder’s third measure of change: a shift from a fluid and fragmented conception of the body and of selfhood to a greater awareness of an integrated, bounded personal self.

U2 - 10.1017/9781108753616.016

DO - 10.1017/9781108753616.016

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 9781108484923

SP - 250

EP - 272

BT - Consciousness, Creativity, and Self at the Dawn of Settled Life

A2 - Hodder, Ian

PB - Cambridge University Press

CY - Cambridge

ER -